Stories from a real life cowpuncher that will give you a smile and a glimpse of God.

The Unfortunate Success of Training Lions to be Lambs

by Kevin on May 11, 2011

Long ago, God himself came down in the form of a man. He roared through his territory fighting a battle on two fronts: The church on one side and sin on the other. Jesus was our mighty lion that was as innocent as a lamb. Instead of teaching us to live like lions, the church today has successfully turned most of the lions into lambs.

The Battle Against the Church

Just to put this battle into perspective, let’s take a modern day example of what Jesus did.

I want you to go to a Muslim country and find the biggest mosque there is. Wait for the holiest of holy days for the Muslim religion. Wait for there to be standing room only. Wait for the climactic point where their worship is at its fiercest. That’s when you walk up to the head honcho leading the service, in front of thousands of people, and poke him the chest and tell him that his religion is a load of bull.

I really don’t recommend this, even though it’s just what Jesus did to the church in his day. If you do, you’ll probably end up in a tomb just like he did.

Jesus didn’t do this because he hated the church of that day, he did it because he loved them. He loved them enough that he was willing to take a stand and tell them they were wrong. This took courage and a willingness to fight for what is right.

You don’t think that Jesus was a warrior? In the temple one day, people were making a mockery of the worship there. He got so mad that he made a bullwhip and ran all of them out of there. Just like a roaring lion, Jesus stampeded through the country proclaiming what is right–not out of anger, but out of love.

The Battle Against Sin

Jesus was no pansy. He told it like it was and he didn’t sugarcoat it at all. He told folks to turn from their lusts, turn from their idols, turn from their worldly wants and follow him into battle.

He told us that the battle isn’t against the things that can destroy our bodies, but against the things that could destroy our souls. Jesus wasn’t fighting to keep us away from the things we thought made us happy, he was battling against the forces that were sending us over the cliff into death.

Where we saw beautiful things that brought us happiness, Jesus saw the corruption that was killing us. Where we saw a piece of candy, he saw the cyanide inside. Where we saw fulfillment, he saw through it and saw the flames. Where we sought safety, he saw the trap.

In the end, this lion threw himself in front of the freight train who’s conductor sought to run us down after seducing us onto the tracks.

Gelding the Lion

Jesus came to this earth to show us how to live, how to fight, and who the enemy was.

Jesus wants us to live the lives of lions! He has bestowed upon man the desire for battle. We all want to be William Wallace from Braveheart or Maximus from Gladiator. We all have a need to fight for justice, for mercy, for God. Only when we become this man who God wants us to be can we find true meaning for our lives.

Our battle still has two fronts: The church and sin.

I heard a friend of mine say one time, “A sheep comes into this world lookin’ for a place to die.” The church today has told its men that they are to put down their weapons, put down their fight, put down who they are meant to be and become like lambs before the slaughter. And that’s just what is happening.

The Bible doesn’t tell us to have the passivity and attitude of the lamb, just the innocence. We are to be washed clean from sin and then take up our swords and fight. This fight isn’t to kill our fellow man, but to save him.

Jesus himself is calling out to all his lions. He is poking the church in the chest and saying that this passivity is wrong. Sin cannot be choked to death on the bodies of passive lambs. He has told us to put on the Armor of God and take the fight to the gates of hell to save our fellow man.

Enjoyed the article Kevin. It is definately a battle for truth to reach the ones He so cares about. Our weapons are mightly through God. Our roar should be felt in our region of influence.
to your victory Tony

The hardest part about the battle with the Church – there are a lot of people in there who are a lot smarter than me and are really good at making me look like a complete idiot. I’ve been there when an innocent question asking someone to clarify their position turned into “let’s see how stupid Seiji really is.” After a couple of encounters like this I’ve gotten really good at being gun shy, but I guess now’s the time to pick it back up again.

Kevin

If someone gets defensive about their position, it usually means they don’t understand it themselves or they are wrong.